STUDENT'S HAND-BOOK OF ]\/[uSHROOMS OF /^MERICA EDIBLE AND POISONOUS 'CAL BY THOMAS TAYLOR, M D AUTHOR OF FOOD PRODUCTS, ETC Published in Serial Form— No I— Price, WASHINGTON, D C 30c per number : A R Taylor, Publisher, 2^8 Mass Ave N.E 1897.' Plate A In Plate A is presented a sketch of the common field mushroom, Agaricus campester Fig represents the mature plant Fig 2, a sectional view of the same Fig 3, the basidia, club-shajDed cells from the summit of which proceed the slender tubes called sterigmata, which sup; ; port the spores —highly magnified ; Fig 4, the sterigmata ; the spores as shed from an inverted mushroom cap ; Fig 7, 5, Fig mycelium, highly magnified, supporting immature mushrooms ; the Fig spores 6, mag- nified Plate B In Plate family Fig Fig Fig Fig Fig Fig B is rej)resented a leading type of each of the six orders of the Hymenomycetes Cap with radiating gills beneath Agaricini or teeth beneath Cap with spines Hydnei Cap with pores or tubes beneath Polyporei Cap with the under or spore-bearing surface even Thelephorei Whole plant, club-shaped, or bush-like and branched Clavarei Whole plant irregularly expanded, substance gelatinous Tre: mellini CopyriKbt, 1897, by TuojiAs Taylor, M D., and A, R, Tatlor Plate HYMENOMYCETES T Taylor del Agaricus iPsalliota) campestcr A Plate B HYMENOMYCETES T Taylor del Types of the Six Orders of Hymenomycetes INTKODUCTION In the year 187G, as Microscopist of the Departmeut of Ajj^riculture, I of the exhibit of my Division at the Centennial Exprepared, as a part at Phihulolphia, a large collection of water-color drawings representing leading types of the edible and poisonous mnshrooms of the hibition United States, together with representations of about nine hundred species of microscopic fungi detrimental to vegetation In the preparation of the first collection I had the valuable assistance of Prof Charles the hearty co-operation of Rev eminent British mycologists The popular character M J New York, and in the second Berkeley and Dr M C Cook, the H Peck, State Botanist of of this exhibit attracted the attention of the showgeneral pulilic, and many letters were received at the Department ing an awakening interest in the study of fungi, particularly with regard to the mushroom family, as to methods of cultivation, the means of determining the good from the unwholesome varieties, etc My first published paper on the subject of edible mushrooms, entitled " Twelve Edible Mushrooms of the U S.," appeared in the annual' report This was followed by others of Agriculture for 1885 of five, and as the demand for these reports increased, of the Department number reprints were made and to the issued, by order of the Secretary of Agriculture, " pamphlet form, under the general title of Food Products.'' Numerous editions of these reprints were issued by the Department up to 1894 During the year 1894, and the first half of 1895, 36,600 of these reports were sent out by the Department, and the supply was exhausted They have been out of print for more than two years It is in view of this fact, and in response to a great and constant demand for these publications, that I have undertaken to publish a series of five pamphlets on the edible in and poisonous mushrooms of the United States, which shall embody the " Food Products above alluded to, substance of the five pamphlets on supplemented by new matter relating to classification, general and specific, '' and a continuation of the chapters on structure, etc Additional plates, representing leading types of edible and mushrooms, will also be inserted in each number analytical tables of standard authors, poisonous In the compilation and extension of this work I have the assistance of my daughter Miss A Robena Taylor, who has given considerable attention to the study of fungi, and who has been my faithful coadjutor in the For of collecting specimens, etc., for a number of years valuable suggestions as to structural characteristics and work of classification Albany, New I methods am York, of especially indebted to Prof Chas H Peck, Dr M C Cooke, of England, and Prof P A Saccardo, of Italy The colored plates in pamphlet No 1, together with a few of those which will appear in the succeeding numbers of this series, are reproductions of direct supervision, for the pamphlets entitled republished by the Department of Agriculture and those prepared, under " Food Products "' my ferred to above THOMAS TAYLOR, May 7, 1897 M D CRYPTOGAMS The cryptogamic nor pistils, and or flowerless plants, ^ e., those having neither stamens which are propagated by spores, are divided, according to — Dr Hooper, into the following four classes: Pteridophyta or vascular acrogens, represented by the ferns, club-mosses, etc Bryophyta or cel; by the musci, scale-mosses, etc Algfe, repreRed Seaweeds," Diatomacse, etc Fungi or Amphigens, lular acrogens, represented the " ; sented by which include the molds, mildews, mushrooms, etc The lichens, accord" ing to the Schwendener HyiDotheses," consist of ascigerous fungi parasitic on ; alofae FUNGI Botanists unite in describing the jjlants of this class as being destitute and These plants assume an infinite variety of propagated by spores which are individually so minute as to be scarcely perceptible to the naked eye They are entirely cellular, and belong to the class Amphigens, which for the most part have no determinate axe, and develop in every direction, in contradistinction to the Acrogens, which develop from the summit, possessing an axe, leaves, vesof chlorophyll forms, and are of starch sels, etc Fungi are divided by systematists into two great classes : Sporifera, in which the spores are free, naked, or soon exposed Sporidifera, in which the spores are not exposed, but instead are en- closed in minute cells or sacs, called asci These classes are again subdivided, according to the disposition of the spores and of the spore-bearing surface, called the hymenium, into various families The sj)oriferous fungi are arranged into four families, viz Hymejiomycetes, in which the hymenium is free, mostly naked, or : Example, '•^Common Meadotc 3Iushroom.'' Gasteromycetes, in which the hymenium is enclosed in a second case or wrapper, called a peridium, which ruptures when mature, thus releassoon exposed ing the spores Example, Com.rt%on Puff Ball Coniomycetes, in which the spores are naked, mostly terminal on conspicuous threads, free or enclosed in a perithecium Example, Must of Wheat Hyphomycetes, in which the spores are naked in- Dust-iike fungi on conspicuous Example, Blue Mold threads, rarely compacted, Thread-like fungi Of these four subdivisions of the Sporifera, only the Hymenomycetes and the Gasteromycetes contain plants of the mushroom family, and these two together constitute the class known as the Basidiomycetes The chief distinction of the Basidiomycetes is that the naked spores are borne on the summits of certain supporting bodies, termed basidia These basides are swollen, clulj-shaped cells, surmounted by four minute tubes or spore-bearers, called sterigmata, each of which carries a spore Figs and 4, Plate A See These basides together with a series of elongated cells, termed paiaphyses, packed closely together side by side, and intermixed with other sterile called cells, the coustitute cystidia, spore-bearing or surface hymeuium of the plant To the naked eye this hymenium appears simply as a very thin smooth membrane, but when a small portion of it is viewed through a microscope with high powers its complex structure is readily observed and can be carefully studied The tSporldiferoxs fungi are represented by the families Physomycetes and Ascomycetes The first of these consists wholly of microscopic fungi — In the plants of this family the spores are not supported upon basidia, but instead are enclosed in minute sacs or asci formed from the fertile cells of a hymenium In this connection it would Ascomycetes be well to state that Saccardo does not recognize the divisions Sporifera and Sporldifera by those names They are nearly the equivalent of Basidiomycetes and Ascomycetes What Cooke names Physomycetes, Saccardo calls Phycomycetese, introwork between Gasteromycetete and Myxomycetese, which some mycologists consider somewhat out of place Saccardo calls its asci (sacs which contain the spores) sporangia He does not regard them as genuine asci, but as corresponding more to the peridium of the Gasteromycetece and Myxoniycetem Peck says that this group seems to present characters of both Hyphomycetes and Ascomycetes, with a preponderance towards Hyphomycetes It is a small group, however, and since it consists wholly of microducing it in his scopic fungi, need not be farther considered in this work In the Ascomycetes are included the sub-families Discomycetes, Pyre- nomycetes, and Tuberacei Of these the Discomj^cetes and the Tuberacei are the only groups which contain any of the mushrooms, and but few of these are large enough or sufficiently tender to possess value as esculents A good example of the first (Discomycetes) is found in the Morel, and of the second (Tuberacei) in the Truflie In the Discomycetes or " disk fungi," the spores are produced in minute membraneous each sac usually containing eight spores These spore sacs are imbedded in the flesh of the exterior and upper surface of the mushroom sacs, cap In the four classes, Hymenomycetes, Gasteromycetes, Discomycetes, and Tuberacei, therefore, are included all of the plants which are here designated under the generic term of "mushrooms." Some idea of the relative numerical value of these classes may be ob- tained from the following figures given by the distinguished British mycologist, " M C Cooke : — total number of Hymeuomycetete Gasteromycet^— Discomyceteaj— " " " " " " described species 9,600 known 3,500 " " " 650 " (The Tuberacei comprise a very small group of subterranean fungi, and comparatively few of the species are described.) Saccardo in his Sylloge gives a total of 42,000 described species of Of these the Hymenoincluding the most minute include far the number of edible mushrooms mycetes by largest The family Hymenomycetes is divided into the following six orders fungi of all classes, : Agaricini, Polyporei, Hydnei, Thelephorei, Clavarei, Tremellini In the order Agaricini the hymenium the is found on the under surface of mushroom cap, covering pleats or gills, technically called lamellae These gills vary in character in the different genera, being " persistent in such as the Agaricus, Russula, and Leutinus, deliquescent (melting) in Coprinus, Bolbitius, etc The edge of the gills is acute in Agaricus, Marasmius, etc., but obtuse and vein-like in Cantharellus, longitudinally channelled in Trogia, and splitting in Schyzophyllum." In the Polyporei, pore-bearing milshrooms, the tubes or pores The tubes are replaced by or short, pressed one cylinders, long their union a layer on the under surface of are against another, forming by the cap, and the sj^oriferous gills little membrane or hymenium lines their inner Their upper end is always closed, while the lower extremity is open to permit the outward passage of the sj)ores The tubes are generally joined together and are not easily disunited They are free, i e., walls separable, in the sole genus Flstulina As regards their attachment to the cap, the tubes may be firmly adherent as in the genus Polyporus or as in Boletus, the fleshy form of the order easily detached in a single ma^ leave a circular space of greater or less dimensions around the stem, or they adhere to or are prolonged upon it in such a manner that the orifices rise in tiers one above another The Polyporei They frequently color of the tubes, although not offering as characteristic varieties as that of the gills, changes nevertheless according to species and according to the age of the plant The tubes may sometimes be of a different color from their orifices, as in Boletus luridus In some of the Boleti the color of the flesh is changed on exposure the same tints and the tubes often assume pores, are sometimes closely to the air The tubes, generally called adherent to the substance of the cap, which is often hard, corkj^, or cori- aceous, as seen in most of the l^olyporei In the Hydnei, spine-beari]ig mushrooms, the hymenium is seen cover- ing the spines or needle-like processes which take the place of gills in this These order, and which project from the under surface of the cap divided or entire, simple or ramified, and are formed of the substance of the cap lu the early stages of development they appear spines may be like small projecting points or papillae, those on the margin of the cap and at the apex of the stem being always less developed, frequently re- rudimentary state They are rounded in the species Hydnum imbricatum, sometimes compressed in Hydnum repandum, sometimes terminating in hairs or filaments, as in Hydnum barba Jo vis, or very maining much iu this divided, as in Hydnum fimbriatum Plate XVI T Tavlor ciei Fig Fig Ag (Amanita) vemus, (Amanita verna.) "Spring Mushroom.' Represents section of mature plant Fig Spores ; Fig Young Bull plant POISONOUS 11 times figured in European works In the brown variety the stem and ring are often tinged with brown, as also the volva The cap is usually from to inches broad, and the stem from to inches long The symmetrical in shape and clean looking, though somewhat clammy to the touch when moist It is very common in mixed woods, in some localities, and is universally considered as fatally poisonous whole plant is The white form of A p/ialloides, in reality bearing very little resemblance to the common field mushroom, has been mistaken for it as also for the Smooth xohite lepiota^ and in some instances has been eaten with fatal results by those who gathered it although The distinction between this most poisonous Amanita and the common field mushroom is well marked In the common mushroom the fjllU are pink, bceoitniig dark, hnnv)!, the spores puvplish brown, and the whole mushroom is stout and short stemmed, the stem being shorter than the diameter of the cap, and having no volva, or wrapper at its base In the species A ])halloides the gills are 2^&'>'sistentl'i/ white and the bulb is distinct and broad at the base, the white cup-shaped wrapper sheathing the base of the stem like the calyx of a flower The Smooth white lejnota shows neither volva nor trace of one, and has other distinct characteristics which distinguish The si^ecimen common it from A phalloides figured in Plate XV See page in grew 14, No of this Maryland, w^here series it is (^uite Plate XV Fig 9.— Ag (Amanita) mappa (Amanita mappa) Linn Amanita citrina A virosa Poisonous then expanded, dry, without a separable cuticle, not warty but showing white, yellowish, or brownish scales or patches on its Cap at first convex, upper surface gills white, adnexed flesh white, sometimes slightly yellowish under the skin stem stufted, then hollow, cylindrical, yellowish white, nearly smooth, with a distinctly bulbous base volva white or ; ; ; : Odor pleasant Spores spheroidal The cap in this species is somewhat variable in color, but those having a white cap are most common The plant is not so tall as those of the species p>halloides It is brownish and found usually in open woods Curtis and Lowerby figure mappa and phalloides under the same name solitary in habit, is Plate XVI Figs to — Ag (Amanita verna) Linn., Amanita Vernal Mushroom,^' " ISpriny Mushroom," etc (Amanita) vernus bulbosa, Ag solitarius " Bull Poisonous at first ovate, then expanded, becoming at length slightly dej^ressed, viscid, white margin smooth flesh white gills white, free stem white Cap ; ; ; ; 12 equal, stuffed or Lollow, easily' splittiug, floccose, with bulbous base volva white, closely embraciug- the stem, but free from it at the margin: ring reflexed spores globose, 0003 in broad The plant is creamy white through; : out and does not seem to be easily distinguishable from the white forms of Fries and some others consider this species merely a A jphalloides variety of Amanita phalloides, and it is regarded as equally poisonous, It is very the poisonous principle being the same as that of A I'yhalloides common in mixed woods from early spi'ing to frosty weather ALKALOIDS OF THE POISONOUS MUSHEOOMS Schrader, after some experiments made in 1811, stated that the poisonous principle of the '' Fly mushroom," Amanita muscaria, seemed to be red coloring matter and might be extracted by water or aqueous alcohol, but that it was not soluble in ether combined with its Vaquelin, as the result of more extended investigations made in 1813, expressed the opinion that this poison was not confined to the coloring matter of the mushroom, but that it was an integral part of the fatty constituents not only of rauscuria but of several species of mushrooms In 1826 and 1830, and again in 1867, important investigations were made Letellier relating to the medical and poisonous properLetellier's early investigations ties of mushrooms growing around Paris and published by there were two poisons contained in certain fungi (1) an acrid principle easilj^ destroyed by drying or boiling or by maceration in alcohol or in alkaline solution, and (2) a peculiar poisonled him to the conclusion that — ous alkaloid found only in certain of the Amanita group Letellier in 1866 named this latter alkaloid amanitin He then considered it to be the poison of Amanita mnscaria, Amanita 2^hZ«»